Obama address: Surge troops home by summer 2012

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says 10,000 troops will come home from Afghanistan by the end of this year as the U.S. mission shifts from combat to support after nearly 10 years of war.

The president said a total of 33,000 troops would be withdrawn by next summer, as he announced what he called “the beginning but not the end of our effort to wind down this war.”

Obama spoke from the White House East Room on Wednesday night to mark a milestone in a war he inherited and expanded with a surge of troops earlier in his administration. He says conditions are right now to start drawing it to a close.

After the 33,000 troops are gone, about 70,000 will remain until the transition is complete in 2014.